Falconer

Is Gandalf’s hat still the same mold as the original wizard’s hat (Majisto, etc.)? I’m thinking of buying a blue one for him, to match what it’s supposed to be per books and per movies:

Has anyone amassed a lot of Rohirrim that can post a picture of them all together?

Well, remember there are plenty of races and nations that have not even been touched upon yet. It’s nice that it’s possible to vary the Isengard Uruk-hai, but they’re the only ones so far with that option at all. I am ready to move on for now.

Huh. Maybe, but you don’t have to be mean about it. Anyway, that image is very dark, so I increased the brightness and saturation, and lo and behold: Thorin in blue, Balin in red, Bombur in pale green… I don’t know who’s who of the rest, but there are definitely some colors other than grey represented. Since LEGO always comes with a bit more colorfulness and whimsy than real life (the Moria troll was NOT bright blue in the movie, was he?), I think I still have something to look forward to.

I don’t think it’s a book vs film thing. As I said, in the book they change into battle gear for the Battle of Five Armies at the end of the book (= end of the second film), and I think that’s what this promotional poster depicts. But before that they have their cloaks and hoods for the adventure. For reference, here are their depictions from METW. Pretty accurate to the book, and more-or-less how I imagine them.

Those are their battle costumes for the Battle of Five Armies at the end. During the adventure (i.e., the subject of the first movie), the books are very specific as to their appearance. Balin: Red hood, white beard Dwalin: Dark-green hood, blue beard Fili + Kili: Blue hoods, yellow beards Dori + Nori: Purple hoods Ori: Grey hood Oin: Brown hood Gloin: White hood Bifur + Bofur: Yellow hood Bombur: Pale green hood Thorin Oakenshield: Sky-blue hood with a long silver tassel, white beard

Yeah, I haven’t been following the movie rumors too closely (probably not going to watch them, either), but I am fairly certain the attack on Dol Guldur will be part of the climax of the first movie. I do hope all those figures you mention will be in the next wave, but if that happens, I doubt they will be all together in the same set. I say that just based on what we have seen in the first wave, where they spaced out characters between larger and smaller sets. But also, Elrond was not present at Dol Guldur, according to The Hobbit (of course, that could change in the movies). And it would just be TOO awesome to be able to collect all three wizards in a single set! I’ll bet Gandalf in this wave will have a blue hat. At least, I hope so! I hope the other two wizards get pointy hats (in the film and therefore in the sets), too!

I highly recommend that you do!

Oh, I want all 13 Dwarves!! I wonder what they’ll use for their hoods?

Hmm, I do spot at least one in the video that has a halberd + shield. However, I do think you’re right that they shouldn’t be combined. So here are what I now have as the possible combinations: HANDS COMBOS: 4 sword sword + shield sword + hand shield halberd BODY COMBOS: 6 breastplate + helmet breastplate + hand helmet helmet hand helmet hair + face 1 hair + face 2 For a total of 24 unique combinations. Here are the components you’d need: uruk x 24 sword x 18 halberd x 6 shield x 6 hand shield x 6 breastplate x 8 helmet x 8 hand helmet x 8 hair x 8 However, at this point, as some of you have remarked, it’s probably not the most desirable option to collect all the possible combinations just to make all the Uruks unique. If you did, you would find yourself buying several extra sets just to get the exact number of hair and swords. I’m thinking of going this route: 2 x Uruk-hai Army, 1 x The Battle of Helm’s Deep, 3 x The Orc Forge uruk x 14 sword x 12 halberd x 5 shield x 6 hand shield x 6 breastplate x 12 helmet x 9 hand helmet x 6 hair x 4 (Lurtz uses up one additional sword and hair.) I don’t think I’d ever need more Uruks than that, but if I did, I wouldn’t worry about making them that unique (i.e., not using breastplates).

Well, I guess we’ll have to wait to see how much the polybag costs. Yes, I know it doesn’t have many accessories. But The Orc Forge comes with a bunch of extra accessories. So the combo of The Orc Forge plus a handful of polybags might be pretty sweet.

Hmm… That sounds right… However, I *think* the hair is incompatible with the breastplate. Which puts us down to 60 combinations. I know in the video he was counting the two face options, but personally I think the two face options only really matter with the hair. So I would say there are really only 36 combinations.

I was uninterested in Army-building until I saw the LOTR Minifig Video. At one point in the video, the designer lines up an army of 40 Uruk-hai, and points out that they are all unique — that is, they each have a unique configuration of accessories. That piqued my interest. But first (at around 4:48 in the video) he shows a smaller army of 10 Uruk-hai. I thought I would analyze their accessories in detail: halberd, breastplate, helmet sword, hand shield, breastplate, hand helmet sword, shield, hair halberd, helmet sword, hand shield, breastplate, helmet sword, shield, hair halberd, breastplate, hand helmet sword, shield, helmet sword, hand helmet sword, shield, hand helmet Here is a closeup of some of them from another still (4:57): In order to acquire all the necessary components, you will need 1 x Uruk-hai Army, 1 x The Battle of Helm’s Deep, 2 x The Orc Forge, and 1 x Uruk-hai with ballista. (The Battle of Helm’s Deep can be replaced with other sets, but I assume you want one!) Now let’s look at the full army (5:31): I haven’t scrutinized this as thoroughly, but I think you could achieve this total mix most easily with 3 x Uruk-hai Army, 1 x Helm’s Deep, 6 x The Orc Forge, and 19 x Uruk-hai with ballista. The White Hand Shield and White Hand Helmet are the rarest accessories — not to mention, in my opinion, the coolest — being found in only The Orc Forge. The easiest way to swell your army is obviously with Uruk-hai with ballista. The combination of these two sets make Uruk-hai Army less of an attractive set, except for the fact that you’re also going to need a Rohan army. Showing my work a little more… I hope I got these right! Uruk-hai Army uruk x 4 sword x 2 halberd x 2 shield x 2 breastplate x 2 helmet x 3 hair x 1 The Battle of Helm’s Deep uruk x 3 sword x 3 halberd x 1 shield x 2 breastplate x 2 helmet x 3 The Orc Forge uruk x 1 sword x 2 hand shield x 2 breastplate x 2 hand helmet x 2 hair x 1 Uruk-hai with ballista uruk x 1 halberd x 1 breastplate x 1 helmet x 1

This might be handy for reference: http://www.wetanz.com/the-prancing-pony/ The most obvious change would probably be to add more hobbits, though there is one already in the set that easily passes for one. And to remove the two Crown Knights (unless it’s the Fourth Age). You’ll need Aragorn, no doubt. And probably a few Nazgûl lurking around!

Has anyone gotten two sets yet, and fit them together to make an enclosed castle? I would love to see how that works out. Thanks!

Let’s shoot for 2!

Not directed at anyone in particular, just musing. In fact, I originally wrote this for the “LOTR 2012” thread, but decided it goes here: Hopefully LEGO Middle-earth is so long-lived that everyone can eventually get what they want. But IMO it’s nuts at this stage to be hoping for Last Alliance sets. Why are people so focused on “armies” and “scenes”? To me, LEGO Castle was always about building castles (and forestmen hideouts, of course)! Don’t you want to build Minas Tirith, Isengard, Rivendell, Hobbiton Hill, Lorien, Beorn’s Hall, Meduseld, Lake-town, Cirith Ungol, the Argonath, The Prancing Pony, and a much-expanded Moria? So far the Hornburg is really the only worthwhile set, IMO. Let’s dare to dream big! Please?

In The Hobbit, the White Council drives Sauron out of Dol Guldur. This is “offstage” in the book — and, in fact, Elrond is explicitly stated to not participate — but it will doubtless be different in the movies.

Hmmm… Hey, TLG, can you re-release this obviously popular set, please? My Middle-earth needs Dwarves! And you can sell this without paying licensing fees. I’ll pay $14.99 for a set instantly; right now it is reselling for $80+

Well, given that LEGO LOTR is all about reinterpreting the source material through the medium of LEGO, I personally would be happy with a little less “realism” and a little more of the traditions and conventions of LEGO Castle. So if Mordor is a “faction,” then traditionally they would have its symbol (the lidless eye) on their shield. So that’s on my wish-list. But I also haven’t really seen RotK, so take it with a grain of salt.

Hey, great job on the designs, Djordje! I have a question, though. I really like the “White Hand” shields. Why did they only include them with one set (The Orc Forge)? Also, it would have been nice (or would be nice in the future) to see equally iconic shields for other nations. For example: Rohan - a white Horse Head on a green field Gondor - a White Tree on a blue field Mordor - a Red Eye on a black field They could use normal LEGO shield mold, IMO. Not everything has to be specially designed. Just my personal opinion!

Ummm, TLG, can you please sell a set that just includes all the minifigs and accessories from that video? Thanks! Seriously, the “White Hand“ accessories are very cool. It’s really annoying that only The Orc Forge comes with them.

Both of Legolas’s expressions look angry to me. It’s an interesting idea that some races would be yellow and some fleshie. Hmm. I’ll have to think about that. Obviously, if you collected a whole bunch of Series 3 Elf Minifigs (geez, they look pissed off, too!), you might decide they are a yellow race. And if you’re using Crown Knights from the 2007 Castle theme for Gondorians — not bad in a pinch — and Dwarves from the 2008 Castle theme for your Dwarves, that mainly leaves Rohirrim and Hobbits as fleshies. Interesting. The two Anglo-Saxon-speaking populations.

I don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but, if you look at Frodo from 9469 Gandalf Arrives, he has yellow skin at the top of his torso where his collar opens. At least in my set. Here’s a picture that confirms I’m not alone.

Hey, guys. I haven’t collected Legos since the days of Falcon Knights, Crusaders, and Forestmen! Now I’ve got the MMV, and am planning to collect just about every Middle-earth set that ever gets released (already got two—kind of a dream come true for me). I just have to wonder: Am I alone in wanting to replace each figure’s head with a regular, old-fashioned, smiley-faced, yellow head? And substituting matching yellow hands? Is that weird? Would the color clash? Would the simplicity of the face be incongruous with the detail on the torso? Maybe I’m crazy, but to me it’s a nostalgic extension of the hobby of my childhood, when the smiley heads were a ubiquitous, signature feature of Legos. I noticed the Modular Buildings still use them, presumably for elegance and nostalgia. Also, I care nothing for the Jackson movies, so sometimes it’s weird when (for example) Legolas’s face is always frozen in a pissed-off expression, which doesn’t mesh with how I imagine him from the books. Finally, it would harmonize the Middle-earth sets with the MMV (which I’ve got as part of the same display… I don’t know… as Bree, or something). Of course, I would switch out the MMV heads, as well. Thoughts?